President Bola Tinubu has appointed a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the 2019 governorship election in Oyo State, Adebayo Adelabu, as the new Minister for Power.
This is contained in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, on Wednesday, August 16, 2023.
On 27th of July 2023, Adebayo Adelabu was included in the first batch of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 28-man ministerial nomination.
Adelabu from Oyo state, is a Chartered Accountant. He studied at Obafemi Awolowo University and proceeded to Harvard, Stanford and other Ivy League universities for professional courses. He worked at PwC and later at CBN. He became the Deputy Governor of Operations at the Central Bank of Nigeria and also was the All Progressives Congress gubernatorial candidate for Oyo State in 2019.
Education
Born on September 28, 1970, Adelabu attended Ibadan Municipal Government Primary School in Agodi, Ibadan from 1976 to 1982. He later enrolled at Lagelu Grammar School in Ibadan, where he studied from 1982 to 1987.
He graduated with a first-class degree in Accounting from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He also earned the title of Fellow from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), as well as the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. Additionally, he holds Associate Membership in both the Institute of Directors of Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
Adelabu has pursued professional courses at prestigious business schools such as Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, Kellogg, Euromoney, and the University of London.
Career
Adelabu embarked on his career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, where he spent seven years overseeing a range of audit and consultancy projects for prominent banks and non-bank financial institutions both within and outside Nigeria.
In 1999, he was seconded to the Central Bank of Nigeria for a year, during which he headed the finance team for the CBN’s transformative initiative, “Project EAGLES.” After his stingy at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2000, he transitioned to First Atlantic Bank as the Financial Controller and Group Head of Risk Management and Controls. He rose through the ranks, achieving the position of Chief Inspector in 2002 and Group Head of National Public Sector Business in 2003.
Later, he joined Standard Chartered Bank as the West African Regional Head of Finance and Strategy for the Consumer Banking Business, stationed between Lagos and Accra. By 2009, he had moved on to become the Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of Nigeria’s largest bank, First Bank of Nigeria Plc., at the age of 39.
In February 2014, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan appointed Adebayo as the Deputy Governor of Operations at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Adelabu’s contributions extend to his role as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Nigeria InterBank Settlement Systems (NIBBS), and his chairmanship of the Financial Institution Training Centre (FITC) board. He actively serves on the boards of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), and the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).
Business
Adelabu is also an entrepreneur with investments that encompass the hospitality, entertainment, agriculture, and real estate sectors. He holds the position of Group Chairman for Bayse One Group of Hotels, as well as for the Best Western Plus Hotels located in Ibadan. Additionally, he oversees Bayse One Farm.
Political life
Adelabu resigned from his position at the Central Bank of Nigeria with the intent of vying for the governorship of Oyo State in 2019. He secured the gubernatorial candidacy for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Party in Oyo State on September 30, 2018, during the party primaries.
However, on March 9, 2019, Adelabu experienced defeat in the Oyo gubernatorial election to Oluwaseyi Makinde of the People Democratic Party. Subsequently, in 2022, following his loss to Teslim Folarin in the APC primary election, he resigned from the All Progressive Party (APC) and switched to the Accord Party.
Under the banner of the Accord Party, Adelabu emerged as the candidate for the Governor of Oyo State, taking the place of the previous candidate, Ayodele Oyajide.
minister of power? his experience and track record says other wise….I can understand wale edun’s appointment but find it hard to make sense of this one…